If you google quotes about seeing things through the eyes of a child, you'll come up with all these things people have said about how children can see magic and beauty and wonder and miracles that adults aren't able to see. But what about the children who have seen heartache and hardship that no adult, let alone a child, should have to endure? What does poverty do to the eyes of a child, to how she sees the world--both real and imaginary--and what is possible? As I was revisiting my Haiti photos tonight, I kept coming back to this little girl, who looked so directly into my camera, but without a smile or hint of artifice or even a desire to see her own image. And I can't help but think that those are knowing eyes, eyes that have already known suffering and loss. But I have found that those who have known heartache are often the ones who grow up to be the most compassionate, the most empathetic, the most willing to help. They just need the opportunity and, of course, the ability. And that's why reaching children in hard places is so essential, because they are the ones who will help lift up the ones who come after them.
